House GOP Moves to Make It Nine Times Harder to Vote to Vacate the Speaker

Two factions of the House Republican conference have brokered a deal to raise the threshold to trigger a motion to vacate the chair, the procedure to force a vote to remove the Speaker of the House, from one member to nine.

CNN reported that the rules package for the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress includes a change to the motion to vacate rule, which derived from an agreement between the House Freedom Caucus and the Main Street Caucus. The outlet’s Annie Grayer and Sarah Ferris wrote:

The conservative House Freedom Caucus and governing-focused GOP Main Street Caucus had been in talks — along with Speaker Mike Johnson – about changes to the motion to vacate, according to three Republicans involved in the discussions. An internal party rule change would defuse the procedural weapon used to remove Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, from power. In exchange, GOP lawmakers would not push for changes that would punish members for voting against rule.

If Johnson can successfully raise the threshold, it would eliminate a key problem for him in the next Congress, where CNN projected on Wednesday that Republicans will have a majority in the House. The GOP conference would need to approve the deal on Thursday.

As CNN noted, the tool was used to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in October 2023. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who resigned Tuesday after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him as attorney general, filed a motion to vacate the chair in October 2023.

Gaetz and seven other Republicans, many in the House Freedom Caucus, voted with Democrats to remove McCarthy, which led to a speakerless House for weeks. As the House cannot conduct business without a Speaker, the Republican conference was under a microscope as it went through numerous ballots before finally electing Johnson weeks after McCarthy’s ouster.

Months later, in May, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) triggered a motion to vacate against Johnson, which failed on the floor.

Raising the threshold from one to nine would insulate the next Speaker from the threat of one member forcing a floor vote. Instead, nine GOP members would need to reach a consensus before triggering the procedure.

Johnson is positioned to win the gavel again after securing his party’s nomination for the speakership via a unanimous voice vote on Wednesday. Once the 119th House opens, Johnson will be the GOP nominee for the speakership election and take on the Democrat nominee, which will presumably be House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).